Michael Stephens

Michael Francis Stephens (born April 3, 1989) is an American soccer player.

College and Amateur

Stephens grew up in Naperville, Illinois, attended Edison Academic Center, and played four years of college soccer at UCLA. He was honored as UCLA's Rookie of the Year in 2006, while also being selected to the Top Drawer Soccer All-Freshman first team and to Soccer America's All-Freshman second team, playing in all 24 games in his rookie season.

He was named to the Soccer America MVP second-team in 2008, and became only the third player in Bruin history to earn Pac-10 Player of the Year honors. As a senior, he was named to the All-Pac-10 First-team and was a NSCAA All-Far West second-team honoree. He finished his UCLA career with 81 appearances, 11 goals and 20 assists.

In March 2014, Stephens signed a two-year contract with Norwegian Tippeligaen side Stabæk.[6] After one season with Stabæk, Stephens returned to MLS on 9 December 2014, signing with Chicago Fire.[7] After the end of 2016 season, Fire did not exercise his contract option and he became a free agent.[8]

International

Stephens was a member of U.S. squad at the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup, having previously scored a goal in consecutive games against Costa Rica with the Under-20s in May. He was the US's starting forward in three games at the 2007 Pan American Games, and featured for the Under-18 National Team in 2006, scoring one goal with three assists. Previously, he had been a member of the U-17 National Team Residency Program from 2004–06, and played with the U-15 and U-16 National Teams.